Okay, just ran into another report (tv this time) on the anesthesia
and surgical risk aspects of some herbs. It didn't mention garlic or
echinacea. I know that garlic increases bleeding problems, so don't
know if I misheard and they said ephedra before or if it was
mentioned, too. Certainly, ephedra has known heart effects that can
be negative so it's entirely possible that I misheard. Like anythig
else, echinacea has it's situations in which is must be avoided, but
this may not be one of them. Don't know. Oh, they said in the
second report that St. John's Wort also poses dangers in this
situation.

In the NY Times Science Times there was a short mention that valerian
is being reported as often not being what is paid for. A number of
times there was none in the bottles and a number there was much less
than reported. A worrisome mention was made that there might be
situations in which a related plant that might have toxic aspects may
have been substituted, but the wording was very open to
interpretation and they did say that that is a worry for the
investigating group but has not been substantiated.
http://www.consumerlab.com was their source for part of this report.
Ran into someone giving this to a ferret just yesterday. Sounded
like she had never tried it before; I don't recall if I have run into
anyone else giving this one.